According to Administration sources and press reports, yesterday Venezuelan despot Nicolas Maduro was about to flee to Cuba when the Russians told him to stay put.

What are Mr. Putin’s military “advisers” doing in Venezuela? What are his intentions? Will more than fifty nations that have recognized Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president recall home their ambassadors for consultation? Will there not be a price to pay for Moscow’s intervention in the internal affairs of a nation in the Americas?

The Russian troops would not be in Venezuela if Raúl Castro, who still runs Cuba, its Communist Party and its military had not deployed there what Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the OAS has correctly denounced as an army of occupation.

While Western tourists subsidized Raul Castro’s military by staying in their hotels on the island, Cuban agents train Maduro’s henchmen in repression and torture techniques.

Democracies should ask Guaido’s government for permission to deploy a peace force in Venezuela to protect the Venezuelan people and supervise a peaceful transition to democracy.

Tourism, trade and cultural exchanges with Moscow and Havana should be suspended until their troops are out of Venezuela.

Many are already pointing out the danger of American, Colombian, Brazilian and other democracies intervening, but few point out the risks of doing nothing. This is Caracas in 2019, not Hungary in 1956. Central European nations that were once occupied by Russian armies should take the lead and demand that Moscow withdraw their soldiers from Venezuela.